In the interest of safety to other vehicles and nearby pedestrians, the speed of motorized vehicles should be kept to a safe level. Excessive vehicular speeds, especially on roads through residential areas and in parking lots, create a dangerous environment for drivers and pedestrians alike. To that end, speed limits are posted on roads, with the local speed limit being dependent on the type of road and the location of the road. Unfortunately, many drivers disregard the posted speed limit.
Other methods, which drivers cannot disregard, are employed on some roads to keep the speed of vehicles at a safe level. It is common for speed bumps to be placed across roads in neighborhoods, parking lots, and other areas where it is desirable to ensure that vehicle speeds are limited. Such speed bumps are usually elongate, mounded areas of asphalt or cement that traverse the width of the road, or the width of a driving area of a parking lot, to ensure that each vehicle encounters the speed bump. The speed bumps are usually painted or physically treated in some manner to alert drivers to the presence of the speed bumps. The dimensions of the speed bumps are such that a vehicle must be slowed to a low speed to pass over the speed bump without jarring the vehicle. Passing over a speed bump at a higher speed, as is known to most drivers, causes a very undesirable jolt to the vehicle and its occupants. In this manner, speed bumps cause drivers to slow down to a low speed to pass over the bump.
Speed bumps are typically installed at intermittent locations along a road or parking lot, but close enough to each other so that vehicles traveling between adjacent speed bumps do not have enough linear road space to accelerate to an unsafe speed, considering the low speed to which the vehicle is slowed to pass over the speed bumps. The speed bumps can be spaced apart any desired distance, which usually depends on the type, shape, and location of the road. For example, speed bumps in a parking lot should be placed relatively close together to drastically limit the speed of vehicles to perhaps 10 mph, but speed bumps on a residential street can be placed further apart to limit the speed of vehicles to perhaps 20 mph or 30 mph. Therefore, speed bumps prevent vehicles from traveling at unsafe speeds along an expanse of a road, in a parking lot, or other driving area.
However, such speed bumps can be very inconvenient and frustrating because they do not discriminate between vehicles driving at different speeds. Speed bumps are installed to require drivers traveling too fast to slow to a low speed to pass over the speed bump. However, drivers that already are traveling at a safe speed do not need the added deterrent of the speed bump to maintain their vehicles at a safe speed. Therefore, although a speed bump is necessary to slow down a fast driver, the speed bump is not necessary, and is a nuisance, for the slower, safer driver who does not exceed the speed limit.
Therefore, speed bumps indiscriminately affect all drivers, even those traveling at a safe speed. This indiscriminate effect on vehicles traveling over speed bumps has caused many people to be opposed to the installation of speed bumps where they are otherwise needed, thereby contributing to an unsafe environment for other drivers on the road and nearby pedestrians.
Therefore, it can be seen that there is a need in the art for an automatic speed bump that is operative based on the speed of the vehicle that contacts the speed bump. There is also a need for an automatic speed bump that provides a bump for vehicles that encounter the speed bump traveling over a predetermined speed, but does not provide a bump for vehicles traveling below the predetermined speed. It is to the provision of such a speed bump that the present invention is primarily directed.